Thomas Hardy's Tess of the author of the d'Urbervilles, magnificent novel of the late nineteenth century depicts the life of a young girl from a disadvantaged background but whose father drowned his misery in alcohol, has by his ancestors a name particle. Here's how began the dark fate of the noble and beautiful Tess, that surveys the roads of Wessex, dragging in its wake all the calamity that will befall her frail shoulders. The novel is pure happiness, written with a mastery of detail and research. I suggest you also pocket version replete with footnotes page, to explain the many references, especially biblical, that make us relive a bygone world since. The adaptation of Roman Polanski's beautiful, rare are those who come to rival if not, at least to keep the height of the book. Success for this talented director. The DVD in French version came out in November 2005.